Spinach Dill Vadai (fritters)

These vadas smell great when frying and taste great too. They are very flavourful and make a good evening snack with tea. I made them for Ifthaar with ganji (a kind of flavourful rice porridge made in south India especially for ifthaars). They disappeared in no time.

Method:1.Clean, wash and soak the urad dal overnight or for atleast 4 hrs. Clean wash, drain and wipe dry the spinach and dill after picking the leaves from the stems. Then chop them well and set aside.

2. Take half the dal and grind it fine in a food processor. Remove and set aside.

3. Put the rest of the dal and pulse it just two or three times so that it breaks up a little. Remove and mix it with the finely ground dal to make a sticky dough. Do not add water while grinding. You could just sprinkle a little bit when you finely grind the first half.

4.Mix together chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves and chop them all together on the cutting board with a little salt which is just enough for the onions.

5. Add a little salt to the ground urad dal and mix well. Now add the chopped spinach, dill, cilantro, curry leaves and onion mixture and mix everything well with the urad dal.

6.Take a lump of the vadai batter with wet hands press gently to give a flat shape and make a hole in the center using your fingers and thumb and gently immerse it in the oil. You have to be really very careful at this step. You can use a flat spatula to slowly drop the vadai in the oil if you are not confident.

7. When it turns golden brown at the bottom and crispy on the sides, it is time to turn it over and fry on the other side.

8. Fry in batches of 4 – 6 depending on the size of your frying pan till all of them are evenly browned and crisp..9. Remove from frying pan, drain on paper towels and serve them hot with mint or red coconut chutney.